APR 19 2021
The Biden Administration has signaled that a revised admissions cap will be given after all- but not until May 15.
By Joanna Krause, Executive Director
On Friday, the Canopy team was stunned when the news broke that the U.S. would admit a maximum of 15,000 refugees this year. On February 14th, the White House released the Executive Order on Rebuilding and Enhancing Programs to Resettle Refugees and Planning for the Impact of Climate Change on Migration which committed to cap the number of refugees to be admitted in fiscal year 2022 to 125,000. The administration also offered an indication that the current year’s cap would be raised from the historic low of 15,000 to 62,500 in effort to rebuild resettlement infrastructure.
Resettlement offices nationwide have been waiting for the formal approval since February, knowing that there are over 35,000 individuals who have been thoroughly vetted, completed rigorous security screens and medical checks and now sit and wait for their turn to get on a plane, to be one of the less than 1% of refugees who get resettled to a third country.
With each day of delay, someone’s medical clearance – which is valid for 2 years – expires, adding unnecessary cost and burden on the system which now has to be repeated, and holds a refugee from their opportunity to start a free life and begin their path to citizenship in the U.S.
Later in the day Friday, the White House released a press briefing that the actual number of refugees to be resettled in fiscal year 2021 will be released May 15th. The federal fiscal year started on October 1st, so we have collectively been waiting for more than two-thirds of the way into the year for more arrivals. During this time, over 700 people had travel booked that was later canceled due to the promise that the severely limited resettlement numbers for this year would be expanded.
Currently, the first year of the Biden administration is on course to resettle the lowest number of refugees in modern history; lower than the final year of the Trump administration, because the country is still operating on procedures from the prior administration designed to restrict entry to specific groups of refugees.
You may be asking: so what about migration at the southern border in relation to refugee admissions?
We are relieved to see the outpouring of support for unaccompanied children who need security. Canopy’s national resettlement partner, Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Service, is one of the agencies implementing foster care services for unaccompanied children. It is important to know, however, that national infrastructure for processing refugee resettlement and for those seeking asylum or youth crossing the border without a parent are different. We want to see a pathway that addresses the right to seek asylum in a fair, timely and humane fashion.
But the systems are different and unequivocally our nation has the capacity to do both.
I am disappointed with media sources that continue to craft the narrative that refugee resettlement is an issue for progressive Democrats. Refugee resettlement is not a political issue, it is a humanitarian issue.
Refugee camps do not have access to advanced medical care and extremely limited work options so people can provide for their families.
United States refugee resettlement is not an issue of numbers:
- It is about the young adult waiting to access education and contribute to their new community as an educated professional.
- It is about the mom with a newborn who just wants her mom to come to be her support system for when she returns to work.
- It is about the son whose father had resettlement approved who then died in a refugee camp waiting for his flight to be booked.
The longer we wait is a toll on human life. Thirty-five thousand people are waiting in limbo. Vetted refugees should be allowed to travel NOW.
Canopy finished a week of meetings with our elected officials alongside partners from local faith communities and small and large local businesses to talk about the positive impact the small yet strong, creative, and skilled refugee community has made on the greater Northwest Arkansas community. Help us continue to let our elected officials know that Arkansans want refugees in our state- and that refugees around the globe cannot not afford to wait until after May 15th.
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